


Unexpected

by ElvenSorceress



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (2012)
Genre: F/M, M/M, Mild Sexual Content, OT3, POV Female Character, Pansexual Character, Polyamory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-17
Updated: 2013-01-17
Packaged: 2017-11-25 20:40:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,451
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/642759
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElvenSorceress/pseuds/ElvenSorceress
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pepper muses on Tony and his behavior post Avengers regarding a strong attachment to a certain Dr. Banner.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

 Pepper is very good at reading Tony Stark. After all these years, she has to be. There’s an enormous chance nothing would get done and the media would implode and even more people would want to murder Tony if she weren’t.

She sees things others don’t and understands things that are elusive to even Tony himself.

For one thing, she knows that besides “genius,” it’s “philanthropist” that he values most. The billionaire part just helps him be that much more affective at it. As for playboy, she learned a long time ago that it was part of the opulent, lavish image he sold to the public.

She’s seen him with enough – more than enough – casual sex partners to realize what he craves more than anything is undivided attention and affection. The sex was a means to an end. Because despite everyone’s predictions, even hers, to the contrary, Tony has been downright faithful.

She tries not to leave him alone for too long though, not because he’d jump at the chance to cheat per se, but because he needs love from someone. And he’ll literally drive the whole world crazy if he doesn’t have what he needs.

The one time they had to be on opposite sides of the country for two weeks, he nearly talked his way into Stark Industries seceding from the US and becoming its own nation. Pepper still isn’t sure exactly how that one happened.

But she remembers him calling her in the middle of the night because he’d kissed some random girl and been so torn up about it that he was practically in tears. Neither of which was something he’d ever done before. He wasn’t one to be ashamed about anything. He couldn’t look her in the eyes when she flew back home to him. He was stoic, casual even, devoid of the usual irreverent glee, and told her to break up with him because he wasn’t good enough for her.

It never really occurred to her to be angry with him. Maybe she should have been, other people definitely would be, but she knew him better than anyone. So she climbed onto his lap, wrapped him in her arms, and whispered she loved him, over and over as she kissed his cheek and his neck and his forehead.

Her heart wasn’t breaking because of him. It was breaking for him. He buried his face in her hair and hugged her so tightly it left bruises. She wished there were more people who gave him real love.

But that was the other thing about Tony. He unquestionably hated or was thoroughly annoyed by the vast majority of the population. It took Pepper all of two seconds to realize Bruce Banner was an extremely rare individual. For more than a few reasons.

Not only was Bruce the only person besides her who Tony could stand to be around for longer than an hour, but he made Tony actually rave and extol the virtues of someone who wasn’t himself. That actually surprised even her.

It wasn’t that Tony felt the need to brag about himself all day, all the time. It was more that Tony was at a certain level of genius and accomplishment, so for him to be impressed by someone required that they be equal to or above Tony’s level. So far, she was pretty sure Tony had met only one person besides Bruce who even came close, and he’d died giving Tony a new heart.

Maybe that explained Tony’s newfound protective streak when it came to Bruce. Or maybe it was just because Bruce was someone who needed protecting.

She’d listened to all the stories Tony had about Bruce. All the things he’d read and dug up and uncovered. All the things Bruce had confessed to him. She listened more than once in some cases when Tony forgot or was ignoring that he’d already told her. He did that with things he had a hard time wrapping his mind around, like if he went over it again, the answer would come to him.

In this case, he couldn’t understand the way people treated Bruce. If everyone wanted to cage him and torture him and hurt him, how could the Hulk not be angry?

How could they not see that Bruce, even as his verdigris alter ego, was a good person? He was kind and he was funny and… it was at that point that Pepper has Jarvis play a video she’d found from their battle with the Chitauri.

She knew he’d been told what happened and how he didn’t die. But it was different watching it.

Even with a shaky video recorded from inside a building on a cell phone. She’d stopped breathing and was left shaking for a good ten minutes the first time after she watched it. She even knew at that point that Tony hadn’t died. But watching him fall like that… watching the others on the ground who were helpless to do anything to save him.

She can’t breathe this time either even though she’s sitting right beside him.

He has Jarvis replay the video at least eight times. Pepper doesn’t watch after the second time. She curls against Tony’s side and presses her face into his neck. “Not everyone misses that he’s a good person,” she tells him.

He holds her to his side, rewatches again, then turns the screens off, and kisses her. He tugs at her clothes and sucks on her neck until she pulls off her shorts and wraps her legs around his waist. His hands touch her everywhere, not with his expert teasing skill, but erratically, desperately.

He kisses her until she can’t breathe and doesn’t really want to. She claws at his back, clutches him to her, wants to feel him alive and warm and solid and deep inside her where she knows she can keep him protected and loved.

He half groans, half sobs when they are finally there and clings to her tighter than ever. She holds him and strokes his hair as the waves of orgasm fade. His fingers dig into her arms. He clings to her like he’s afraid she’ll disappear.

It’s then she realizes… he wasn’t thinking about her.

 


	2. Doctor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pepper investigates.

She's not sure what to think to be honest. She doesn't mind him thinking about someone else when they're together. She's not thought police. She thinks of plenty of things besides Tony when they have sex.

But she can feel the excess of need pouring from him that has nothing to do with her or with getting off. There's something deeper. Is it a simple fantasy? Are there real feelings there?

She knows how to read him, sure, but this is unprecedented. He's never had this strong of a reaction to anyone. Even her. And she still firmly believes he wouldn't be able to tie his shoes without her telling him how.

Most people would probably get jealous or confrontational. They would demand to know if he were cheating or having thoughts about cheating and if he really wanted to be with someone else. Pepper decides a different route would be better.

She goes to Bruce and asks if he'll teach her how to cook vegetable korma.

Bruce seems caught off guard but agrees, and it's when they are side by side in Tony's kitchen, covered in ground spices and laughing over something she doesn't even remember that she gets it. She gets it completely.

Bruce is funny and he's sweet, and when he opens up and smiles and tells her stories about India, it makes her heart flutter.

They make plans for at least three nights every week to cook dinner together. She shows him how to make her favorite stuffed mushrooms, and he teaches her which herbs and spices go best together.

He'll go to the Saturday market in Union Square with her, and they walk arm in arm through the crowds as they pick out fresh produce and browse through the handmade nick-knacks. Sometimes, they sneak away to the East Village afterward for vegan cupcakes and spend the rest of the afternoon evaluating which flavors are the best.

When she's had a long, aggravating day, he listens and even offers her a hug. Two orange lilies appear on her desk the next day, and she doesn't even have to look at the note to know he sent them.

It's after the lilies that she asks Tony to make love to her as slow and agonizingly sweet as possible. He does, though he's clearly wondering where on earth the request came from.

It's all she can do to not cry out a name other than Tony's when she comes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Random headcanon notes: I mix my Bruce up with a heavy dose of Mark Ruffalo hippie-ness which includes vegetarianism, environmental activism and other such liberal-ness because I think it makes him a fun contrast to a canonically conservative Tony.


End file.
